It's late in the night, dancing is doneThe music has died, you're ready to run

But you don't have a clueThis party hasn't ended yet not for me and youNow you're just pretending

You're hiding from yourselfYes you are, yes you areLike golden rays of sun in the cloud

We're meant to be one, I know we areIf I am the sky then you are my star

(Royksopp)

Pinkie Pie stood in the middle of Sugar Cube Corner and surveyed her handiwork.

"Pinkie Pie," she said to herself. "I know I say this to you Or do I mean 'me'? every month, but you've gone and outdone yourself " She cocked her head in thought. "Or do I mean 'myself'? Oh, I can never work that out!"

The bakery was a riot of streamers and ribbons and crepe-paper and confetti, and brightly-coloured balloons floated up to the ceiling in bunches. The tables were covered with white cloths and party snacks cookies and muffins and sugar cubes and potato chips and soda and punch and sarsaparilla and vanilla lemon drops and hot dogs and cream cakes and hot sauce. And there were party poppers and sparklers and party horns and party hats  everything that a successful Pinkie Pie-party demanded, and not a single element forgotten!

Every month, Mr and Mrs Cake would leave Pinkie in charge of Sugar Cube Corner while they went on a short trip to Fillydelphia to buy ingredients for the bakery, and Pinkie would put up a sign outside the window saying "Sorry! Closed for Cleaning! (But open again super-soon  and that's a Pinkie-promise!)"

But the truth was she wasn't really cleaning. She'd busy herself all morning baking and cooking and stirring and pouring and kneading, until she turned into a ghost of flour and confectioner's sugar, and knobs of butter and chocolate spotted her curly pink hair.

And then she'd get to work on the decorations, painting the banner and blowing up all the balloons, until her pink face went red with puffing. She'd put out all the punch and the sarsaparilla and the cakes and the other baked goods, and of course her very own super-favourite hot sauce. And then she would go and clean the kitchen and take a bath and pretty herself up, curling her hair  Gummy the alligator never seemed to mind helping her do this, and he was so much better at it than a silly-old curling iron!  and she'd put on her super-most-favouritest party dress. And then she'd come out and look over all the preparations, making sure that everything was absolutely perfect for her super-special guest. And last of all she'd stand in the middle of Sugar Cube Corner, like a queen surveying her empire, and her eyes would settle on the banner, and as she read the pink words painted there on a field of all the colours of the rainbow, she'd smile and say it to herself so she could hear what was written there as well:

"Welcome to Your Surprise Party, Rainbow Dash!"

It happened the same way every month, and today was no exception.

Pinkie looked at the locked door and the shuttered windows, checking that there was no way that any pony could be spying on her. Then she cantered up to the locked door and putting on her brightest, most brilliant and beamingest, most powerful and perky Pinkie Pie smile, she suddenly shouted "SURPRISE!!!"

Taking the imaginary hoof of an imaginary Rainbow Dash in her own, she said "I'm so pleased that you decided to come!" and she lead her into the centre of the room and showed her all of the party's preparations with a sweep of a hoof.

"I hope you like it!" she asked. "It was SUPER difficult to try and remember all the colours of the rainbow  and the order they come in! I mean, there's JUST SO MANY  red, orange, yellow, blue, yellow, red, yellow and I'm SURE there's an indigo or violet or something in there as well!""

She nodded in response to an imaginary question. "It WAS a lot of work, but it was SO totally worth it to see the smile on your face, Rainbow Dash!"

"Other guests? Oh no! This is a special private party. Only Pinkie and Dash! And what's the occasion? Well, it's.... um, well... a surprise!"

"And what's the surprise?" she asked, repeating the question that imaginary Rainbow Dash would inevitably ask. "Well, the surprise is that there's something I " Pinkie's heart was beating fast, and she felt as though she was going to explode. Maybe even twice! "Well, there's something I want to tell you...."

Pinkie always hesitated at this point. Even though Rainbow Dash wasn't really there, in Pinkie's heart she felt as though she truly was. And the embarrassment and nervousness that Pinkie felt was almost too much for the little pink pony to bear!

"The truth is you see, what I'm trying to say is the thing about it is well, actually, I.... aaaaaaaaaahhhhh!" Pinkie leapt forward and hugged the air, and even though Dash wasn't there, tears were rolling down her cheeks as she cried out:

"I LOVE YOU RAINBOW DASH!"

And every month it would happen the same way. She'd fall onto the floor, covering her sopping eyes with her hooves, and she'd sob her heart out, until it seemed as though she couldn't remember what laughter was, and her whole universe was a broken dream of her broken heart.

*****************

Twilight Sparkle was on her way home to the library with Spike and Rainbow Dash. As they passed by Sugar Cube Corner, the Pegasus pony was swooping about them in little dives, showing off her latest trick.

"And so then I pull in my wings to reduce wind resistance, and I just TOTALLY go for it "

Suddenly, there was an eruption of noise from inside Sugar Cube Corner. There was the sound of ripping material, of balloons popping, glass breaking, and pots and pans clashing and clanging together.

"What in Equestria is going on in there?" asked Twilight, as great white clouds of flour and confectioner's sugar billowed out of the chimney and covered the roof like snow.

Spike frowned. "It sounds like somepony's getting the beat down!"

Rainbow Dash laughed. "Oh, don't mind THAT. It's just Pinkie Pie cleaning! She does it every month " She flew up to them and hovered close by as she whispered, "But don't bother offering to help her. She'll just say "Oh, Rainbow Dash! Thanks for being such a SUPER KIND friend! But this is something I have to do ALL by my Pinkie-self!"

Spike laughed. "That Pinkie Pie  she's so random!" But as they walked away, Rainbow Dash turned back, a frown on her face. An eerie silence had suddenly settled over Sugar Cube Corner, and she thought she could hear the soft sounds of somepony crying?

"Nah. Couldn't be," she thought to herself. "I mean, Pinkie's the only one in there. And Pinkie Pie crying?" She burst out laughing at the thought, then she turned and flew after Twilight and Spike, and the laughter of the three of them after she told them what she'd imagined rang throughout the whole Town Square.

********************

A week later, Pinkie Pie was on her delivery run for the Cakes. They'd just come back from Fillydelphia with all sorts of new flavours of frosting and sprinkles and sugar-decorations, and Pinkie had spent the previous evening taste-testing them all.

"Oh Pinkie Pie!" Mrs Cake had chuckled tolerantly as the little pink pony devoured a bag of star-shaped sugar-decorations. She and Mr Cake were always careful to bring back twice as much as they needed, knowing full well that Pinkie's "testing" would make a sizeable hole in their stock. "You always seem so hungry when we come back from our little trip!"

Mr Cake was stirring a pot of batter, and he dropped the wooden spoon from his mouth to say "Now, Pinkie  don't eat too quickly, or else you'll give yourself a stomach ache!"

Pinkie looked up from the bag, her cheeks puffed out and full of treats. She looked chagrined, and she nodded.

"Ih bwon't " she'd said in a voice muffled with candy.

But she had eaten too quickly, and the next morning she had woken up with a tummy-ache just as Mr Cake had warned her. As she trotted along the cobbled streets of Ponyville with the delivery basket in her mouth, her stomach grumbled in annoyance.

"I'm reeeeally sorry, tummy!" she thought, "But with YOU aching, I can't feel that other part ache as much!"

The morning's deliveries went by quickly. First she had a chocolate roulade to deliver to Bon-Bon, and some blueberry tarts for Lyra, and she found the two of them lounging around in the park as usual.

"Say  the two of you haven't seen Fluttershy today, have you?" asked Pinkie as she handed over the baked goods. "She usually orders a carrot cake for Angel Bunny, but it's not on my list today...."

Lyra shook her head. "I haven't seen her," She turned to her earth pony friend. "Have you seen her Bon-Bon?"

"Of course I haven't, Lyra!" Bon-Bon replied in exasperation. "And you know I haven't! You've been here with me the whole morning! Just like every other morning..." she muttered under her breath.

"Thanks anyway!" said Pinkie, but as she turned to leave, she said "You know- you two make SUCH an ADORABLE couple!" and chuckled.

Lyra and Bon Bon looked at each other in surprise as Pinkie trotted away, whistling to herself.

"Did she say... 'couple'?" asked Bon Bon, eyes wide.

Lyra nodded, "I think so," she replied. Her eyes sparkled. Had...had the moment finally come? After so many years of waiting?

Bon-Bon laughed loudly. "Oh that Pinkie Pie! What a ridiculous thing to say!"

Lyra nodded, but then her bottom lip started to quiver and she turned away so that Bon-Bon couldn't see the tears welling in her eyes.

Next on Pinkie's list was:

"A vanilla lemon meringue for Cloud Kicker!"

Cloud Kicker was with the rest of the Weather Control Squad in the middle of their training regime, flying circuits around Froggy Bottom Bog. But where was Rainbow Dash? As the commander of the squad she was usually in the lead shouting and egging them all on. But today she was nowhere to be seen! Pinkie sighed. Where WERE all her friends this morning?

The rest of the morning went by quickly. Pinkie delivered liqueur-filled chocolate éclairs for Berry Bright the overprotective parent pony, and of course a teeny-tiny cupcake for her super-cute little foal who was always hiding behind her flank!

And for Ponyville's mail pony -

"Muffins!" said Derpy in delight as she took them from Pinkie and put them in her saddlebag.

"Say, Derpy," asked Pinkie, "Have you seen Twilight Sparkle today? You usually have some packages for her from Canterlot..."

Derpy shook her head.

"Oh well... enjoy the muffins Derpy!" said Pinkie as she trotted away.

"Muffins!" Derpy nodded enthusiastically, then flew away.

Finally, Pinkie reached the end of her list: a special delivery for Caramel out in the fields at Sweet Apple Acres.

The brown-maned pony was helping the Apple family with the sowing, and he looked left and right to make sure Big Macintosh was nowhere in sight as he took his favourite caramel tarts from Pinkie.

"Thanks Pinkie Pie!" he said. "I'm sorry to do this all so secretively, but Big Macintosh wouldn't be happy if he knew my secret "

"Secret?" asked Pinkie Pie.

Caramel whispered in her ear. "I HATE apples. And that's all they ever give us for lunch here on the farm. Apple strudel, apple pie, apple bumpkin," He stuck out his tongue in disgust. "I don't even like caramel apples!"

Pinkie laughed. "Your secret is totally safe with me, Caramel. I won't tell anypony!" She looked suddenly serious. "I mean, secrets are no laughing matter, are they?" She looked around at the ponies in the distance working in the fields, ploughing and sowing. "Hey Caramel, have you seen Applejack around?"

Caramel shook his head. "Nope, sorry. I think she went out this morning  she said she had to do something important."

"Oh, ok. Thanks anyway!" replied Pinkie, as she waved goodbye.

Oh, how she wished she'd been able to run into one of her friends on her deliveries this morning! Even her tummy ache couldn't distract her from those silly black thoughts that were buzzing around her like horse-flies! She sighed again.

"Oh no! That's FIVE sighs already today!" she exclaimed. "That's a new Pinkie Pie record!" She hadn't sighed that many times since... well, since she'd been a little Twinkie Pie, frightened by those ghosties outside her window at night! Something was definitely wrong with her. Usually, the secret party she prepared for Rainbow Dash every month made her feel a bit better, once she'd cried out all those bad feelings... but this time things were different.

"Maybe..." She shook her head. No, it couldn't be! "Maybe the party inside me has... ended?" But her twitches hadn't predicted a doozy, and those twitches were never, EVER wrong!

As she was standing in the middle of the street that led back into the centre of Ponyville, thinking over everything that had happened, Spike came running up. The little purple dragon was out of breath when he reached her, and he leaned up against a street light to catch it.

Pinkie was overjoyed to see him. "Spike! I'm so pleased to see you!"

Spike started to reply, but nothing came out except for panting and puffing.

"What's the matter?"

"Puh.. Puh... Puh..." gasped Spike.

"Ooooooh! A guessing game!" Pinkie stamped her hooves in joy. "So you're thinking of a word... and it starts with a `P'?"

You know something crazy; I actually kind of like MLP shipping. No, I'm not even kidding, it makes for some great literature. I think that it only gets such a bad rap because lesbianism is mainly looked at in a negative light, as if relationships of the sort are nothing if not completely revolved around sex nonstop until one of the members of the unit gets lock jaw or something. I really don't know where this whole thing about gays being sexual deviants came to be, but seriously, it's beginning to cloud a lot of people's better judgement, and this staggering amount of hatred for great works of fiction just because they involve same sex relationships proves it.

But I must admit, I wasn't exactly exemplary of those beliefs myself. I always automatically assumed that any fanfiction that contained same sex love was simply an explicit clop fic, and I avoided it like one avoids a couch that he just witnessed a spider crawl under. But like most things I try to understand, I definitely got that wrong, because out of all the shipping fics I've seen, none of them have taken things to a completely adulterated level.

You remember that analogy I made about how life is like a business firm, and my character traits are like stereotypical working colleagues? Well, my gut fits the role of the guy who tries to convince me into believing or doing things that are obviously wrong, and when the piss hits the wind, he hits the road and leaves me to take the rap. Like convincing me into coercing my boss for a promotion, or telling me that "Hormones" has a crush on me or something. Only in this case, I get a project from my boss, and my "Gut" tells me that I should put it off until later, because this project is hard, useless, and nobody will really care if I don't do it. He's so very convincing with his "relaxed demeanor" and how he doesn't wear a suit jacket or straighten his tie properly, and drinks coffee while resting his shoulder to the wall and crossing his legs. How could I not trust this guy? So I decided to just put it off until later; later meaning never.

Then I got a big smack upside the head from Common Sense, and he tells me that this project could very well get me that promotion that I've been begging my boss for for the last six months. Then I soon realize that Gut did it to me again, that little rascal.

This project symbolizes the story "The Party Hasn't Ended". It's a fic that I was gonna read because it was so long and looked so epic and everybody loved it, but when I saw that it was a shipping fic, my gut came in and told me to just leave it be, like the smug prick that he is. Common sense kicked in when I soon realized that I was completely contradicting my argument about how I support same sex relationships and have nothing against them, and I realized that I was being a complete hypocrite. I don't deserve that promotion!

Self Resent was there, hating me, as I read the story and loved it. It was from then on that I declared I would never judge a book by its description again. Which is hard, because the description for this story was, for lack of better words, stupid, it being consisted mainly of "Pinkie Pie is in love with Rainbow Dash, but the feeling isn't mutual, and it's sad and romantic, and shtuff". Again, this is just me paraphrasing the holly hell out of it, but that is basically the gist of it.

Instead of being some mediocre Degrasi romance fiction that many bronies seem to enjoy making these days, the story actually has to be the most weirdly unique approach I've ever seen to forbidden romance. You'd think the story is revolved around nothing more than pillow hugging, sob scenes, where nothing much more is accomplished than pouting and wondering "why is love so blind?" Instead, we have dream scaling, deadly typhoons, ancient entities who feed on self hatred, and all the while just telling a story of how remarkably powerful love is, and how it can see you through to the end of any obstacle.

If I had a nickel for every romance fanfiction I've read that hasn't featured anything more complex than crying scenes and purple prose, I'd have enough nickels to cross the Mexican/American boarder sixteen-thousand times over the coarse of a day, and still have enough spare change to buy a choro on the way out. I'm not sure how I could express myself anymore than saying it's a breath of fresh air to know that some people are aware that "romance" isn't just a fancy way of saying "boring as fuck". That in particular is why I have such an effervescent fondness for "The Party Hasn't Ended"; it doesn't ever slow down. It was perfect insomnia fuel and I never wanted to put it down and stop reading. I feared that if I left it, I wouldn't come back to it and continue that epic groove I'd been keeping up.

Anyone who's played one of those brisk first person shooters knows the feeling that I'm talking about. It's when you don't want to stop, but know you're going to have to eventually, or else suffer the many consequences that comes with turning into a spud. Yet you're determined to finish your entire play through, due to the fact that you've gotten this far and it'd be an absolute waste to just stop playing. Ignore those parents who're telling you to go to bed; it's not like it's their that's sleep is being compromised, and ignore your stomach of which craves proper nutrition; it can snack on some damn cheetos for all you care!

What I'm trying to say is, in case it's too hard to deduce, that the plot was done wonderfully. It's exciting, emotional, ominous, foreboding, the whole nine yards. It gets a tad ridiculous around the ending, though. Such as a scene involving Rainbow Dash performing a sonic rainboom straight from outer space, but not before hanging out, floating around, and seeing the sights. Yes, I suppose the laws of oxygen don't really apply as much in a world where physical labor is required in order for plants to grow, the sun to shine, and the wind to blow, but this theory is averted by the fact that Rainbow Dash is clearly having a hard time breathing in the new environment (in spite of the fact that she shouldn't be breathing at all). It's an isolated case, fortunately.

The recurring antagonist of the story is a being called "Nightmare", whom just happens to be the spirit of Nightmare Moon herself... himself? Whatever - gender doesn't apply to spirits. He has been summoned by the sadness and depression that has fallen upon Ponyville since Pinkie admitted her love for Dash, which simply didn't end well. Nightmare prays upon hatred, misogyny, and fear, and as we all know, nothing ever accumulates more of that good stuff than rejection... I think.

Nightmare is a lot like any other MLP villain, yet so much more different. He's got charisma, trickery, resent of all things good, basically every one of the tropes that makes a villain good, but still child friendly. But it's not quite as simple as that. MLP's villains are usually evil just because they are, or perhaps have a grudge against the princesses for punishing them for being evil, so yeah, basically they're all just evil. Whereas, Fear actually has an enirely complex back story, which made me indefinitely feel sorry for him. He was being a bigger dick than most pornographies could ever wish they'd cater to not two chapters ago, but then I actually ended up forgiving him for all the manipulation and deception. Which is actually pretty amazing, because he did some pretty bad stuff. That - that right there - is great writing!

Which brings me to the magnificently expensive, rich, and creamy tub of icing I wish to slather on this cake: the writing. The story kicks off by describing a wonderful party that Pinkie Pie had spent the whole day on; every streamer, food, and game, only for her to destroy it all in a fit of sadness and heart ache. This whole scene is written with quite conspicuous emotion, and it's much more than subtle throughout the whole story. Sad scenes are written as if the very words were embedded with tears, and happy scenes are written like there's a little party hat on every letter.

It can be rushed at times, especially near the end where scenes can be quite anticlimactic. Which sucks, because the beginning moments are written as if they're leading up to something extraordinary, but the quality of writing sort of just stands there, unmoving throughout the whole thing, right until we get to the ending, where it decides to take a dive and hit its head on the ledge of the pool. It's like the writer was just bored with the story, and wanted to finish it already. She did a decent-ish job of making the ending better than most lazy people end up with, but decent-ish jobs tend not to get the job done.

Fortunately, an epilogue comes right after the last chapter, which was just an absolutely perfect way to end the story, and was, incidentally, the very thing that drove me to tears. I suppose the final chapter was like a pothole in an otherwise great cruise, but at least it hit it right in front of a mechanic's shop.

The story also has this problem with overusing useless subplots. I've seen many things in the story that make themselves off to be epic "Chekhov's Guns", but then they just really vanish from existence and don't serve the plot in any visible form. Not to mention that these subplots are all consisted of gay relationships between background characters. Not that there's a problem with that, but it gets to a degree where it's a little ridiculous. Cloud Kicker, Caramel, Big Macintosh, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Applejack, Lyra, and then some are all secretly gay? Sorry, but my suspension of disbelief is running out of slack.

But the moral of the story is what got me the most out of everything. Through trial after trial, obstacle to obstacle, Pinkie's unrequited love for Rainbow Dash is what keeps her safe and what keeps the party inside of her going. Love conquers all, no matter how unaccepted that love may be to the world. Love is not blind, it's accepting of all things and all circumstances, and this story is the perfect allegory of such a belief.

Wtf? O-o This is fantastic first chapter! This is better than I thought it would be! At least I got SURPRISED! ^^ I found this thanks to that wonderfull song made in honor of this fic: [link] It was like seeing the movie before you read the book. Fortunately this "movie" didn't spoil everything.

No seriously this is so sad So many feels in this one that I can relate to.... May day's freepart schedule is now forever altered.

Thus began the love saga of a lifetime, filled with excitement, love, danger, sorrow, and frustration. This is a saga you will never forget, not in an entire lifetime of lifetimes. Sure, it might slip your mind at times, but it is alway to come back, always to haunt you with the sad scenes, warm your heart with the happy ones, and always make you smile.

This is good and the entirety of The Party Hasn't ended is good. Iv'e been a fan of MLP Fim for a while now but I had never read a pony fan-fic (especially not a romance one) this one was the first one I had ever read and I Flippin' loved it! Read through all of the chapters in one sitting! Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash are an amazing couple and you really got there personalities just right!

Is there a way for me too read this whole story without having too go through each chapter?

You read it in one sitting, lightenupmyday? There's a few versions of it around on pastebin etc - check google! (Unfortunately, I don't have the links on my right now). Oh yeah, and if you go to Equestria Daily, they have links to the kindle and other ebook reader versions as well.

Hello, this is Falcon from #My-Little-Stories. I was wondering if you would be interested in having your Fanfiction featured in our group's gallery. Your work would be a fantastic addition to our repetoir.

I eagerly await your reply. I sincerely hope that you continue to write and support the My Little Pony Fanfiction groups all around Deviantart.

Go right ahead, falconstreaker! I'm honoured that you consider my writing good enough.Please submit whatever stories you like to your gallery and I'll OK them all. I'd also appreciate an invitation to members!

Hello, this is Falcon from #My-Little-Stories. I was wondering if you would be interested in having your Fanfiction featured in our group's gallery. Your work would be a fantastic addition to our repetoir.

I eagerly await your reply. I sincerely hope that you continue to write and support the My Little Pony Fanfiction groups all around Deviantart.

The poor girl! I almost cried in the beginning when she held the party for imaginary dash! :Emotional:

I have to say, I love how your stories build up and explore the depths of despair, frustration, anger, envy, melancholy, and in pinkies case compulsion that comes with unrequited love. A lot of writers just sort of dive in head first and make as big a splash as they can.

His appearance is among the funniest of character introductions.And no problemo. When I read this it was during a fanfic binge spanning about a week and a half, chewing through pages of what EQD had to offer (one particularly good one was 170 pages and that was just a small part of the binge). This story still hovers around the surface of my memory, floating above a sea of quality work with a little post-it note: GOOD. lol and you got that blasted song stuck in my head again.